The PDF opens, but it will not let you print, copy or edit it.
The page is right there in front of you and every useful control is dead. Print is greyed out, selecting text gives you nothing, the form fields will not take an answer, and there is no Edit option at all. That is an owner password — a permission somebody switched off on the file, not a password you have lost. We remove those restrictions from your own PDF and send it back. There is no password to type in afterwards.
See the price — £9 Flat price. You pay only if we can do the job.
No password afterwards. You are not handed a password to type in later. The restrictions are removed from the file itself, so printing, copying and editing simply work when you open it.
The document is not altered. Same pages, same images, same text, same bookmarks, same page size. We remove the permission flags, not the content.
We check it before you pay. Your file comes to us first so we can check we can do the job. If it turns out to need a password just to open — the kind that usually cannot be done — we say so, you are not charged, and our copy is deleted.
You will recognise this if…
- Print, Copy or Edit is greyed out in your reader, and nothing you click brings it back.
- The file came from a solicitor, a lender, a council or a client portal with the permissions switched off.
- You need to add a page, fill in a form field, or lift a paragraph out of it and you cannot.
- You have tried a free web tool that wanted the file uploaded to a site you have never heard of.
It usually shows up like this, and every one of them means the same thing — the permissions are switched off:
- “Secured — printing is not permitted.”
- “You cannot copy text from this document.”
- “The edit tools are greyed out and will not switch on.”
This is a permission on the file, not damage to it. The document is intact — which is exactly why the restriction can be taken off.
Get the price
Drop the locked file below. We read its size on your own computer to show you the price — choosing a file sends nothing. When you press unlock we take a copy and check whether we can do the job. The answer appears here: if we can, the Pay button appears; if we cannot, you are told why and you pay only if we can. One flat price, whatever the file weighs.
How it works
Three steps. You see the price before you send anything, we check the copy you send, and you pay only if we can do the job.
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Drop the PDF
We read its size on your own computer and show you the price. Choosing a file and looking at the price sends nothing; pressing unlock is what sends us a copy.
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We check it, then you pay
Pressing unlock sends us a copy over an encrypted connection, and we check we can do the job. You pay by PayPal only if we can; if we cannot, you are not charged and our copy is deleted. Your original stays on your computer — we work on our own copy.
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We clear the restrictions
You get an email with a download link to the unrestricted PDF. Print, copy and edit work normally, and there is nothing to type in.
What we can do, and what we cannot
Being clear about the limit is more useful than a promise. Here is the honest split.
The restrictions come off
This is the permission layer — the flags that tell a reader what it is allowed to do with the file. The PDF opens fine; it just will not let you do anything useful with it.
- Printing re-enabled at full quality, as the document was made.
- Text selection and copying working again.
- Editing and form filling allowed.
- Pages, images, text, bookmarks and page size left exactly as they were.
A password to open is a different job
If the PDF asks for a password before it will open at all, the whole file is locked, not just editing. That is encryption, not protection, and on most files it cannot be undone by anyone.
- We do not guess passwords. If the file will not open without one, that is not what this service is for.
- A damaged file is a repair job, not an unlock. We will say so rather than guess.
- Files you have no right to. We ask you to confirm ownership before you upload.
We check before you pay
We look at the file first. If it turns out to be password-to-open — the kind that cannot be done — we tell you, we do not take the job on, and anything you have paid is refunded.
So the worst case is a few minutes of your time, not your money.
One price
£9 for one PDF, whatever its size. No tiers, no extras, no upsell at the end. You see the price before you send anything, and you pay through PayPal only once we have checked the copy you sent and know we can do the job.
If we cannot clear the restrictions, you get your money back. That is the whole pricing policy.
Questions people actually ask
Will the file still look exactly the same?
Yes. Only the permission flags change. The pages, the text, the images, the bookmarks and the page size are as they were, and nothing is re-rendered or re-compressed.
My PDF asks for a password just to open it. Can you do that?
Usually not, and we will not pretend otherwise. A password required to open the file encrypts the whole document; that is a different job from the permissions lock, and on most files it cannot be undone by anyone. Send it and we will check before any money is taken — if it is the encrypted kind, we say so and refund.
Can I print it at full quality afterwards?
Yes. The restrictions go, so your reader prints the document as it was made, not at a reduced quality setting.
Will you change what the document says?
No. We do not edit content, add or remove pages, or touch signatures. The content is yours; we only take the permissions lock off.
How long does it take?
The download link arrives by email, usually within the hour. You get a link, not an attachment, so a locked-down email system cannot block it.
Is this legal?
Yes — on your own file. You own the content and you have the right to use your own document. We ask you to confirm that before you upload, and we refuse anything that looks like someone else's file. The full explanation is on the why this is legal page.
What happens to my file once you have finished?
The working copy we unlock is deleted once the job is done. The file you download stays available for a limited period, then it is deleted too. Your original never left your computer.
Locked out of a different kind of file? See which files we unlock — same price, whichever it is.